Key term
CCEA AS-Level Government and Politics 4830
The Northern Ireland Assembly
Topic overviewThe Good Friday Agreement: origins and principlesThe three strands of the AgreementRights, equality, policing and prisoners under the AgreementImplementing the Agreement: referendums, devolution and suspensionSubsequent agreements from St Andrews to New Decade, New ApproachComposition, elections and designationCross-community voting and the petition of concernThe Assembly's representative functionThe Assembly's legislative functionThe Assembly's scrutiny functionThe Assembly's independence of the Executive
The Northern Ireland Executive Committee
Topic overviewThe composition of the Executive CommitteeAppointing the Executive and the d'Hondt formulaThe First Minister and deputy First MinisterThe Office of the First Minister and deputy First MinisterThe Pledge of Office and the Ministerial CodeHow the Executive determines legislationThe Programme for Government and the budgetDivisions within the ExecutiveEvaluating the Executive's policy makingThe Executive as a power-sharing governmentCollapse, restoration and reform of the Executive
The Northern Ireland Political Parties
Topic overviewThe role and functions of political partiesThe Northern Ireland party systemThe Democratic Unionist PartySinn FéinThe Ulster Unionist PartyThe Social Democratic and Labour PartyThe Alliance PartySmaller parties and independentsChanging party strategies since 1998Changing electoral support since 1998Explaining electoral change
The UK Parliament
Topic overviewRepresentation in the House of CommonsLegislation and the passage of a bill through the CommonsScrutiny of government on the floor of the CommonsSelect committees and the scrutiny of governmentThe effectiveness of the House of CommonsComposition and representation in the House of LordsThe House of Lords and the legislative processScrutiny and committee work in the House of LordsThe effectiveness of the House of LordsThe fusion of powers and executive control of ParliamentParty discipline, backbench independence and parliamentary privilege
The UK Executive
Topic overviewThe role of the Prime MinisterThe powers of the Prime MinisterThe Cabinet and its roleCabinet committees, the Cabinet Office and the core executiveMinisterial responsibilityLimitations on the powers of the Prime MinisterThe Executive and its control of the legislaturePrime ministerial government or cabinet governmentThe civil service, special advisers and the centre of government
Option: The British JudiciaryJudiciary
Topic overviewThe judiciary, the rule of law and the separation of powersThe courts and the United Kingdom Supreme CourtJudicial review and its groundsJudicial review and the Human Rights ActLandmark rulings against the ExecutiveJudicial inquiriesWhat secures judicial independenceTensions between the judiciary and the ExecutiveThe effectiveness of the judiciary in holding the Executive to account
Option: Pressure Groups in the UKPressure groups
Topic overviewThe concept of a pressure groupCause and sectional pressure groupsInsider and outsider pressure groupsSocial movementsPressure groups and the policy-making processInsider tactics: lobbying, consultation and the courtsOutsider tactics: protest, direct action and the mediaWhat makes a pressure group successfulPluralist, elitist and New Right interpretations of impactRegulating lobbying and the debate about influence
Option: Pressure Groups in the UK
- 10 subtopics
- 30 things to know
- AS Unit 2
- AS 2 Section C, Pressure Groups in the UK — taken instead of the judiciary
What Option: Pressure Groups in the UK covers
Option: Pressure Groups in the UK is examined in Unit AS 2, The British Political Process — the option chosen instead of the judiciary. It covers the concept of a pressure group, cause and sectional pressure groups, insider and outsider pressure groups, social movements, pressure groups and the policy-making process, insider tactics: lobbying, consultation and the courts, outsider tactics: protest, direct action and the media, what makes a pressure group successful, pluralist, elitist and New Right interpretations of impact and regulating lobbying and the debate about influence.
Where it is assessed
AS Unit 2
The British Political Process — the judiciary or pressure groups, one of two.
Check the CCEA specification ↗The 10 subtopics
Each one has its own page. CCEA AS Government and Politics students sit this topic in the first year.
- The concept of a pressure groupWhat distinguishes a pressure group from a party, the functions groups perform in a democracy, representation between elections, participation, the tension with majority rule, intermediate institutions, and the free rider problem and how groups overcome it.Open →
- Cause and sectional pressure groupsSectional pressure group, cause pressure group and three sectional groups operating in the UK.Open →
- Insider and outsider pressure groupsInsider pressure group, outsider pressure group and three sub-types of insider group in Grant's classification.Open →
- Social movementsSocial movement and post-material thesis in one sentence.Open →
- Pressure groups and the policy-making processAccess point, what is meant by a policy community and three ways a pressure group can influence Parliament.Open →
- Insider tactics: lobbying, consultation and the courtsTrade union successfully using litigation against government policy and limitation of the courts as a route to policy change.Open →
- Outsider tactics: protest, direct action and the mediaDirect action, why disruptive protest is a double-edged tactic and stunt, in campaigning terms.Open →
- What makes a pressure group successfulFive factors that determine whether a pressure group succeeds, why size alone does not guarantee influence and group having 'strategic leverage.Open →
- Pluralist, elitist and New Right interpretations of impactPluralist view of pressure groups, pluralist concept of countervailing power and elitist view of pressure groups.Open →
- Regulating lobbying and the debate about influenceCash for questions affair and two reforms commonly proposed to strengthen lobbying regulation.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
How do insider groups use select committees?
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What is meant by a 'revolving door' in lobbying?
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Why do outsider groups rely on the media?
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What is a stunt, in campaigning terms, and why is one used?
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What happened at the anti-war march in London on 15 February 2003?
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Why did campaigning charities object to the 2014 Act?
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Give the single clearest difference between a pressure group and a political party.
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Define a sectional pressure group.
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Name three movements commonly cited as social movements in recent British politics.
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Why is Whitehall regarded as the most valuable access point in the UK?
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Why does 'sympathy of government' matter more than any other single factor?
Numbers
Which theorist is most associated with the pluralist study of local power, and in what work?
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Why is the party/pressure group distinction sometimes blurred in practice?
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Define a cause pressure group.
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Define an insider pressure group.
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Explain the post-material thesis in one sentence.
Process
How does a formal government consultation work as an access point?
Key term
Explain why size alone does not guarantee influence.
Numbers
Which theorist wrote The Power Elite, and when?
Numbers
What did the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 establish?
Key term
Name four functions pressure groups perform in a democracy.
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By what other names are sectional and cause groups known?
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Who developed the insider/outsider typology?
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How has digital communication changed social movements?
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What is an all-party parliamentary group and why do pressure groups value them?
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What is lobbying?
Numbers
How does the Snowdrop Campaign illustrate a successful cause campaign?
Key term
What is meant by the 'structural power' of business?
Numbers
Which body was created in 1994 to examine standards in public life, and what did it produce?
Take Option: Pressure Groups in the UK further
The same content, four other ways.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is a pressure group?
Model answer
A pressure group is an organised body of people who share a common interest or concern and who try to influence public policy without seeking to form a government themselves.
- 2
Give the single clearest difference between a pressure group and a political party.
Model answer
A political party seeks to win governmental power and take office, whereas a pressure group seeks only to influence those who hold office.
- 3
Why is the party/pressure group distinction sometimes blurred in practice?
Model answer
Some pressure groups contest elections to publicise a cause, and some small parties behave like pressure groups by campaigning on a single issue with no realistic prospect of governing.
- 4
Name four functions pressure groups perform in a democracy.
Model answer
Pressure groups perform representation, political participation, education of the public, and policy formulation or scrutiny.
- 5
How do pressure groups widen representation beyond what elections provide?
Model answer
Pressure groups represent people by interest and by intensity of feeling rather than by geography, so minorities and issues that cut across constituency boundaries gain a voice between elections.
- 6
Explain what is meant by pressure groups acting as an 'agent of political participation'.
Model answer
Pressure groups give citizens a means of taking part in politics beyond voting, through membership, donations, petitions, lobbying and protest.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Option: Pressure Groups in the UK revision questions
- Is Option: Pressure Groups in the UK examined at AS in CCEA Government and Politics?
- Yes. It sits in AS Unit 2, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.
- What does Option: Pressure Groups in the UK cover in CCEA AS-Level Government and Politics?
- 10 subtopics: the concept of a pressure group, cause and sectional pressure groups, insider and outsider pressure groups, social movements, pressure groups and the policy-making process, insider tactics: lobbying, consultation and the courts, outsider tactics: protest, direct action and the media, what makes a pressure group successful, pluralist, elitist and new right interpretations of impact and regulating lobbying and the debate about influence. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Option: Pressure Groups in the UK organised?
- By the CCEA 4830 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Option: Pressure Groups in the UK, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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